IngridMurnane Textile Historian and Knitting Teacher

I’m a textile historian and maker with seven years experience working professionally in the field of textile crafts, and about thirty years experience of making them. I like investigating objects and am very inquisitive about the stories behind them. I research and write about textiles and haberdashery, and have a particular interest in the inter-war period, textiles for interiors and craft skills education. I can get awfully nerdy when researching textile techniques of the early 20th century. I like to do all of these things for my own geeky ends, but also take commissions.

I’m currently researching knitting in schools in the early 20th century and have previously written reviews and articles for PieceWork, Textile History, Take A Break, Simply Knitting magazine and knitonthenet amongst other publications. I’m also an ambassador for the Knitting Reference Library at Winchester School of Art.

I'm also a knitting teacher and provide both indivudual and group tuition for both children and adults. I have an ongoing sock-art project called the Mrs Minivers, which goes on little exhibition tours every now and then and just to clarify, although I knit and exhibits art socks that nobody can wear, I do also design more practical garments and accessories sometimes too. You can see some of my latest patterns in my website sidebar or by visiting my Ravelry designer page (I'm IngridMurnane over there).

After a stint in nursing, I went back to university in my mid twenties to study for a BA in Textile Art at Winchester School of Art and stayed on for an MA in Museums and Galleries, with a specialism on the History of Textiles and Dress from the Textile Conservation Centre, at the University of Southampton.

It was at Winchester that I found my love of working collaboratively when we held a group exhibition with work in pairs. This has gone from stregnth to strength with my latest collaboration across Twitter, #plateaknit, as part of the online performance group, @platea. If you’re interested in working in collaboration, do let me know!

View my website http://ingridmurnane.com/